


Let Me Laugh As If It's Nothing

by A_Dying_Wolf_Dying_With_Dignity



Series: Us Against It All (Plangst Week) [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blood and Injury, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Lance (Voltron) Angst, Langst, Major Character Injury, Pangst, Pidge | Katie Holt Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2017-07-10
Packaged: 2018-11-29 10:16:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11438781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Dying_Wolf_Dying_With_Dignity/pseuds/A_Dying_Wolf_Dying_With_Dignity
Summary: Day Four of Plangst Week: Alone/AbandonedPidge intentionally breaks herself off from the rest of team to save a planet from Galra rule when they're unable to deal with the large numbers, only succeeding in evacuating its inhabitants. How she plans on finishing what they've started and what's happened to her since she left them is what gets Lance racing against time to save her.





	Let Me Laugh As If It's Nothing

**Author's Note:**

> This one stressed me out a lot. I'm not a big fan of how this turned out, but the ending made it worth it, just a little. I'm hoping that my Day Five fanfic will make up for this monstrosity.

They shouldn't have left Pidge behind. Or, they didn't mean to, but she insisted she'd be right behind them on the way back to the ship. None of them expected her to set her lion to fly off without her inside.

She was still on that planet. She purposely stayed behind to work on that reactor when the rest of them gave up on it once the inhabitants were all successfully evacuated. She fought through Galra troops all by herself just to get back there and finish what she started.

It was so _like her_.

" _What the hell were you thinking, Pidge?!_ " Keith was shouting into his helmet's communication mike. " _Now you've got no way out of there if your plan fails!_ "

" _Hey, if I get caught, at least Green won't be taken with me_ ," was her remark. " _Besides, I'm almost done here. I'll just take over one of the Galra's smaller ships and head back to you._ "

Like the rest of them, Shiro was having none of it. " _Stay put, I'll be there to grab you-_ "

" _You can't, Shiro! None of you can! Trust me on this, alright?!_ "

The way she suddenly shouted like that had Lance suspicious now. There was a small crack in her voice when she spoke, like she was starting to lose confidence. It only increased his concern. He turned on his speaker.

" _We're not leaving you behind Pidge..._ I'm _not leaving you behind! I'm coming to get you and there's nothing you can do or say to change my mind!_ "

For a moment, there was nothing. All anyone could hear from Pidge's end was a volley of lasers firing and electricity buzzing. She wasn't saying anything to object this time, so Lance took it as her acceptance. He hurriedly piloted his lion to turn back and head to the base the infiltrated in the first place.

" _When you two get back, we're having a talk-_ "

Shiro's communication was abruptly cut off and turned to static. This was noticed by the other paladins.

" _Hey, what happened? Shiro, are you alright?!_ "

After a few more seconds, his voice came back on to answer Keith. " _Pidge... She jammed my line. I can't get a hold of her anymore._ "

" _She what?!_ " Hunk, who's been quietly anxious, was starting to lose it from his lion. " _What'd she do that for-_ "

" _Hunk?!_ " Lance wasn't the only one panicking. For some reason, when both Shiro and Hunk's lines were cut from Pidge's, the same thing was happening to _his own_ , too. He tried checking his helmet and his lion's control panel, but nothing was working. " _Keith, I can't reach either of those two!_ "

" _Yeah, they won't stop yelling about it to me. Apparently, Allura and Coran can't get to Pidge either!_ "

" _Just how is she doing this, and why?!_ "

" _I don't know, but you should hurry up and get there-_ "

" _Keith...? Hey, Keith, are you still with me?!_ "

He wasn't. Try as Lance might, there was no way to reestablish contact with the guys or even the ship. He took some deep breaths so he could focus on guiding Blue back towards the planet's atmosphere. Based off he was aware of, if there was one line he hasn't tried, he knew that had to be the only one intact.

He gulped and tuned back into the sound of wires zapping each other to life. " _The hell did you do that for, Pidge?_ "

First, there was heavy silence. Then there was a weak chuckle that he wasn't expecting at all.

" _Geez... Didn't want to hear anyone's voice other than yours, is all_ ," Pidge replied. " _Everyone shouting in my ears was ruining my concentration... I've always wanted to try that out._ " She let out a hoarse cough from her end. " _This, I can tolerate._ "

" _... Are you okay, Katie?_ "

On the other side of that conversation, back in the Galra base Team Voltron infiltrated earlier while evacuating the planet, Pidge just kept laughing softly. She was sitting on the cold tile floor, leaning against the reactor she's been working on with its wiring panel open. The room she was in was finally sealed off once she hacked into the building's controls, but she could faintly make out the lasers still firing against the door.

It won't be long before they find a way to break it open. She could already hear the metal slowly creaking away. There was no way she was going to get caught that easily, of course, not while this place was still standing for them to take back. Luckily for her, she found the spare time to keep that from happening by letting everyone take off without her.

" _Just peachy, Lance._ " She pursed her lips to hold back another cough. _Okay, maybe not as peachy as you're probably thinking._

She pressed her hand down harder against her side. Letting out a wince in this midst of her laughter, she raised her bayard with her other hand to make an approximate aim. She remembered doing research during her Garrison days on how low-intensity electrical stimulation can speed up wound healing. She also recalled experimenting that on Lance when he got accidentally cut himself during combat training with knives, succeeding in the process, but then getting in trouble with Iverson afterwards.

Maybe something like that could work on the gun wound that managed to break through her armor after a close-range run-in with numerous Galra foot soldiers on her way here. It left a deep gash in her side that was staining the rest of her with tinges of dark red. She tried to ignore it at first in order to work on the reactor that was bringing power to the entire building. Now that it was finished, all she had to worry about was making it work in her favor before the door is burst open.

Having only Lance on the line was just in case something were to happen to her.

" _Katie, it sounds like you got hurt. Why are you laughing?_ "

" _I figured if I keep laughing, things won't seem so bad._ "

Pidge took a deep breath and put her bayard's voltage power to one of the lowest settings it was capable of. Biting her bottom lip, she activated it, and she watched strings of electricity strike her wound. Even when muffling her suffering moans, they still echoed throughout the room as well as into her helmet.

A minute or so passed when she finally stopped it and started to laugh again. With enough shocks at specific time intervals, she should be able to tolerate it more.

"Christ _, Katie, how bad is it?!_ "

She forced out another wave of laughter to keep it from dying. " _Nothing I can't handle. That's just how I am, remember? You've said it yourself - I've got enough electricity in my veins that I can simply shock myself back to life if I have to._ "

" _Listen, j-just hang in there, okay? I-I've just entered the planet's atmosphere._ " It was obvious as to how concerned for her he was; it's not like him to panic like this.

" _But, if you get within a three-mile radius outside this place, you'll get caught-_ "

" _You should stop worrying about the guy who has a lion when you don't have yours-_ "

" _Dammit, Lance, I'm saying you'll get caught in the kill zone!_ " She wasn't trying to laugh this time.

Lance froze in his seat with his eyes widened. " _Kill zone_ "? Exactly _what_ was she doing with that reactor? He shook his head and maintained his sights set on advancing towards the base from above.

" _Katie, don't tell me... that you turned that thing into a bomb..._ "

He listened to loud buzzing and her groaning again, already having figured out that she was doing that healing tactic with electrical stimulation like she did to him that one time when they were cadets. Hearing her wince made him do the same. There was so much he could imagine as to what she was going through - face sweating, teeth grinding against each other, eyes clenched to withstand the pain as much as possible. Right after that, though, she went back to laughing.

" _Seems to me that spending so much time with me's made you more perceptive. Quite an accomplishment, am I right?_ " He said nothing in response. " _Anyways, yeah, it's a bomb, but it's a special kind of bomb. I've done some recalibrating so that the power override will set off from the outside first and work its way back to the source - a bomb that doesn't_ explode _but_ implode _. Cool, huh?_ "

He slammed his fist against the control panel. " _Is there any way for you to get out of there?!_ "

She hummed in thought. " _The air ducts, maybe, if I'm quick enough, but I have to still be close to the reactor if I were to set it off using my PDA, and the hangar where all the ships are will be the first to go._ " She let out a shaky breath even though her voice wasn't like that at all. " _That's why I need you to stay away from here._ "

None of this was making sense to him. How was he the one losing his cool when she was the one who could _die_ with the push of a button? Why was she so calm about all of this? She didn't sound scared at all and here he was taking what's meant to be _her_ fear onto _his_ own shoulders.

If he really thought about it, she probably accepted death already. There she was, surrounded by the Galra who knew of her importance, trying to break down that door to capture her, and they'll take her alive for questioning. They'll torture her in any means necessary because he knows she wouldn't talk. She's a fighter and will go down fighting like she's meant to, and she'll do that now if it means making that planet safe for its inhabitants again.

_Absolutely like her._

" _Y'know, I've been waiting for my life to flash before my eyes for a while now_ ," she suddenly spoke up again. " _I mean, I'm about to set off a bomb that's supposed to kill_ everything _in this building, including_ myself _. There's no way for me to survive this, so I don't get why I don't feel like this is the end._ "

" _That's 'cause you know fully well I'm not letting that happen!_ " When the base came into view, he pushed the handles for Blue to speed up. " _After I get you out of there, we're heading back to the council and I'm sticking you straight in a healing pod. As soon as you're fully healed, you're going to deal with the rest of us._

" _Hunk is gonna cry nonstop and force-feed you space goo drenched in his tears..._ " Blue dove, heading closer to the ground as Galra ships fired lasers upon the sight of them.

" _Keith is gonna not be a total idiot for once and make sure there's 24/7 surveillance on you so you don't do something like this again..._ " They dodged every single shot fired their way without failure, even when the firepower increased.

" _And boy, you've gotta be aware by now of the lecturing you're gonna get from Shiro, Allura, and Coran..._ " As the number of ships grew, they had no choice but to start firing back, and every ship they took down was making them lose time.

" _As for me-_ " Lance flinched when Blue started taking hits. " _-I'm gonna be your worst nightmare. I'll be by your side regardless what you think. I'm gonna protect you from anything and everything just like you've been trying to do so for this team! You're gonna be so freaked out by how much I and the rest of us care about you that you won't even_ dare _have an idea like this_ ever again _!_ "

One by one, the attacking ships were starting to fall. He redirected energy into his lion's boosters again before he sped off towards the base. He was still relatively fifteen miles away, but he should make it time. As soon as he gets there, he'll cut the trip short by flying right into the room where Pidge and the reactor would be. He'll grab her and maybe let her still blow the place up from the safety of his lion and in his arms.

_But she still kept laughing_ , now while through another round of "electric therapy". It was starting to make him frustrated. He heard her drop her bayard onto the floor, followed by her shifting around to get comfortable.

Her laughter ceased so she could speak, yet he could make out a smile in her tone. " _I'm only trying to close my wound so I can have enough time to think. I'm thinking about everything you just said right now and_ wow _, Lance, that was one heck of a speech._ " He heard sounds of her taking out her PDA, of her thumb tapping on its screen.

" _Sorry, though, but you're still too far. Well, that's actually a good thing for my part. I should let you in on something that you should realize about yourself._ " In the background, there was a loud thud against the door. The Galra must have finally managed to do some damage. " _Okay, because of them, I'll make it quick._

" _I see how you always try to smile and keep everyone else's spirits up when yours is down. We've known each other for so long that I've seen you when you're past your breaking point. Maybe I've done things to help you through that, but you still need to understand how strong you are on your own. That speech you just made? That's an example._ "

She let out a sigh. It seemed so content that it made his fists tighten on the handles.

" _You break, Lance, but that allows light to shine through and that's what makes you capable of giving people hope..._ That's one of the things I've always loved about you."

There was a part of his chest that was starting to contract and then lighten up at a rapid pace. Just listening to that had him gasping for air. Pidge really was going to do it; she was going to set the entire building aflame and herself along with it.

And he's just over five miles away now. If he got close enough, she might stop what she's doing for not her own sake but his. He still had so much to do for her as thanks for all she does for him and the team.

He could only do so much for her, the young woman who's healed his heart whenever he tells himself he's useless or whenever he gets all teary while thinking about home. She was his home and he had every right to protect that.

" _K-K-Katie, don't you d-dare-_ "

" _Take care of yourself, Lance._ "

That, and one last tap on her PDA, was all he heard right before the line finally was cut off from him. Just outside the three-mile radius he was told of, he watched everything catch fire and crumble, including a large piece of himself that was at the source of all of this.

**Author's Note:**

> Pidge is my favorite character and yet I did this to her jesus
> 
> Also, about the electricity aiding in healing, I did some research and a couple studies stated that it should be possible. Plus, the Voltron universe is basically the future, so I'm gonna go out on a limb and think this should then be a possible healing method.


End file.
